The head of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development
Programme (CAADP), Dr. Augustin Wambo Yamdjeu has said that the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) has the capacity to feed Africa, reports
NaijaAgroNet.
He made this known to NaijaAgroNet at the on-going week-long inaugural
meeting of Specialised Technical Committee (STC) on Agriculture, Rural Development,
Water and Environment at the African Union headquarters, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
According to him, although Southern Africa boasts massive
arable land water resources suitable for large scale crop and livestock
production with great potential for fish farming region, the continent’s food
basket region remains underutilized due to low value addition along the
agricultural value chain.
This, he also said include the adequate provision for
storage of produce, which incidentally is not limited to the region, but has
remain work in progress across the continent.
Presently, NaijaAgroNet gathered, over 6 million people
across Angola, Lesotho, Malawi and Zimbabwe are at risk of severe food
shortages because of unresolved cycle of drought and flooding, just as aid
agencies noted the crisis remain largely unnoticed.
To this effect, Dr. Yamdjeu said, the SADC region should work
towards enhancing and developing agriculture to transform the region's economy so
as to address rising poverty and growing inequality.
Yamdjeu equally said
that natural resources are national assets that should be explored for the benefits
of all citizens, even as he lamented the economic disparity which has become a
global setback.+Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) in Addis Ababa
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Pix: Head, Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), Dr. Augustin Wambo Yamdjeu
